


Between the battles

by Queen_Rhaenas_Favourite



Series: House of the Dragon [3]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Fire and Blood - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Blood of the Dragon, The Conqueror - Freeform, after the doom, before the conquest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-01-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:19:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22150171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Queen_Rhaenas_Favourite/pseuds/Queen_Rhaenas_Favourite
Summary: A storm rages around Dragonstone, trapping the inhabitants inside and giving Visenya Targaryen plenty of time to contemplate her duty.
Relationships: Aegon I Targaryen/Visenya Targaryen
Series: House of the Dragon [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1775977
Kudos: 23





	Between the battles

**Dragonstone: 12 BC**

The weather on Dragonstone was always terrible, but it was especially bad in summer. The storm that raged currently had been raging for the past three days, and it showed little sign of abating. Not that it troubled Visenya much, she enjoyed the sound the rain made when it threw itself at her window ever night and how it would pool in the mouths of the stone dragons around the castle. The flash of lighting was always an excitement for her, she would stare up at the grey clouds and count the seconds until the next one hit.

Most of all she loved the way the storm would battle the Dragonmont, how the rain would try to enter it, but the fires within would boil them before they got too close, and the wind would blow the steam around and around until it formed new clouds and attacked the mountain again to no more avail than the first time. Oh how the thunder would roar in frustration, and the lightning would lash out in desperate attempts to beat the mountain, but however loud the thunder was, the Dragonmont would scream louder, and every time the lightning flashed the mountain would throw back fires that were far brighter.

Visenya’s father, Lord Aerion, has told her that the Dragonmont was the reason they had been able to survive on this island. After the Targaryens fled Valyria and the Doom destroyed the freehold, Visenya’s family, along with the Velaryons and Celtigars, became the last true Valyrian’s in the world. Sure, there were people in Lys and all across the free cities who bore Visenya’s semblance, but they were not _true_ Valyrians, they did not honour their blood nor did they keep the old ways. So all that was truly left of the Valyrian empire was the three tiny islands of Dragonstone, Driftmark and Claw Isle.

Of those three islands and the families that inhabited them, Visenya could pride herself on belonging to the one that ranked the highest. For it was the Targaryens of Dragonstone and they alone who still possessed the most powerful creatures ever to have existed; Dragons. _That could definitely be the only bad thing about storms; I cannot go flying when there is a storm._ For Visenya, along with her siblings Rhaenys and Aegon, were dragon riders.

In truth it was her sister Rhaenys who was most affected by being grounded. The girl was barely thirteen years old but already she had claimed her own dragon and would ride Meraxes whenever she could and oft times when she should not have. Although Rhaenys had had her dragon for less than half the time Visenya had hers, she already spent more time riding than Aegon and Visenya did combined.

Aegon had claimed his dragon shortly after his fourteenth nameday. _And of course, he chose the biggest one._ Balerion the dread was the oldest of all the dragons on Dragonstone, and thus, the oldest living dragon, _mayhaps even the oldest living creature,_ in the world. The Dread was the youngest of the five dragons the Targaryens of old had brought with them from Valyria, and while the rest had all perished in the century since then, Balerion had survived. The way of dragons is that they never stop growing if they are fed and free, and Balerion must certainly have been fed well, for now they were so large the shade of their wings could cover a small village. _It must speak to my brothers character,_ Visenya thought, _that he should chose such a creature to be his mount. He will never be satisfied with anything less than the best of everything._ Aegon was now fifteen and spent most of his time sparring with their half- brother Orys, or finding maps of the continent known as Westeros which lay only a short sail (and even shorter fly) away from Dragonstone.

A sudden clap of thunder broke Visenya from her thoughts and alerted her to the grumbling of her stomach, and she realised she had not broken her fast. She jumped from her seat beside the window and chose a dress that she would be easily able to put on by herself. If the choice was left to her then Visenya would not wear dresses at all. Breeches and a tunic along with her mail and armour was the only garb truly appropriate for what she wished to do, but while her father allowed her to wear these things while training and riding, he would not allow her to wear them all the time. _“You must retain some semblance of femininity, Visenya, if you ever wish to be a proper lady. Besides, the sight of you in mail at meals would be too much even for me.”_ So to appease her family until such a time as she was free from their constraints, she wore a dress of some description at all times when not in training, but that is not to say she complied with her fathers request entirely.

Today she wore a dark grey gown that she had slit down the front all the way from her naval to her toes, freeing her legs from the confines of the skirt and allowing her greater movement. Safe to say, all of Visenya’s garments had been similar altered, with slits up either the front or sides, and she had found ways of covering the bodices of her dresses in metal work of some shape or form, _it may not be full armour, but it’s something, and it protects me better than silk will._ The dress she wore currently was covered in tiny silver interlocking scales, like a dragons, from her waist to her neck. The arms she had left the same save for the vambraces and rerebraces she wore over top of them. Under her dress Visenya still wore her breeches, mostly due to the slit and not wanting to show the whole castle her bare legs.

The alterations that had been made to Visenya’s clothes were not completely hers to take credit for, Rhaenys had done most of the actual altering and needlework, as Visenya was not half as good at these things as her younger sister was. And to her credit, Rhaenys had done a wonderful job on all of them, and had gone over and above her older sisters requests on many of the garments and had left small surprises for Visenya to find, such as pockets in the skirts, or the tiny embroidered three headed dragon that Visenya had just now noticed on her sleeve.

As she walked into the lower hall she was struck by how light and empty it seemed that morning. _I must be late, it’s usually far darker than this when I arrive, and far busier._ At the far end of the hall she spotted her brother sat on a long table on his own and went to join him. She called to a passing servant to bring her bread, eggs, blood oranges and bacon.

“You’re late.” Aegon huffed as Visenya sat down opposite him. “Everyone else left I’ve been sat on my own waiting for you for almost a quarter of an hour.”

“It was your own choice to wait.” Visenya answered as a maid laid her food down before her. She picked up a blood orange and began to peel it. “What’s got you in such a dour mood today brother?”

“I wanted to riding but the weather’s shit, so I can’t.” He replied sulkily while he eyed up her food. “And I only waited because mother told them not to serve me anything else. _She_ thinks I’m getting fat.”

Visenya slapped his hand away as he made a grab for her bacon. “The weathers always shit, you should be used to that by now.” She finished the last piece of her orange and pretended not to notice when Aegon stole a hunk of her bread. “Where is it you were wanting to fly off to anyway?”

“What’s it to you?” He asked before picking up his cup and draining its contents.

“We’ve been wondering.” She shrugged. “You go off on Balerion almost as much as Rhaenys does on Meraxes, but she stays within the isles where she knows it’s safe. You go off in the morning to Gods only know where and come home at night, exhausted and stinking. We want to know what we’re missing out on.”

“Where I go is no concern of yours. I am a free person and a man grown besides, I do not have to explain myself to my sister.” Aegon hesitated a moment and creased his brow. “And who do you mean _“we”_?”

“Me and Rhaenys of course.” Visenya began to stuff bread into her mouth, eating as quickly as she could to prevent any further theft. She noticed her brother was growing more and more irritated with their conversation, so she stopped asking about his travels for the time being. “Where is our sister today anyway?”

“Been and gone, along with all the rest.” The hall was practically empty at this point, only the two siblings remained.

“How was she?”

“Fine, I suppose. She did seem awfully put out by something though, I’ll admit.”

“Do you know what?” Visenya finally finished her food and reached for her cup.

“I didn’t ask, she’s been like that all week though, I thought she might start crying at supper yesterday. She’s been getting all wound up about nothing so I’ve been trying to stay out of her way lest I set her off somehow.” Aegon looked over at Visenya’s plate hopefully and scowled when he saw it was empty.

“She’s only like that because her blood came for the first time this week.” Visenya rolled her eyes. “She’s not half as bad as I was when mine came, she’s just worried father is going to marry her off to someone now she can bear children.”

“Senya!” Aegon threw himself back in his seat, as if he was trying to get away from his sister. “I did not need to hear that over breakfast!”

“You aren’t even eating anything!” Visenya laughed.

“That’s not the point! It’s too early to be hearing about… all that.” He scowled and gestured at her vaguely with his hand. “First mother and now you, what is it about today that makes women feel the need to talk about things I don’t want to listen to?”

“Get over it Aegon.” Visenya paused and thought for a moment. “What do you mean mother, what was she saying?”

“The same thing she always says.” He huffed, poured himself another drink and draining his cup again. “ _“It’s well past time you were married! The two of you have a duty to our house and that duty is to produce heirs”_ it’s complete nonsense.”

“Hardly,” Visenya scoffed, “we’ve been told practically since birth that we’re going to be married some day, why is that suddenly bothering you now?”

Aegon picked up his fork and fiddled with it. “Because she wants it done by the end of the year.”

“What?”

“She said she doesn’t want you to be eighteen and unmarried.” He flipped his fork around in his hand and began to stab at the table. “She’s going to start planning it as soon as possible.”

“Planning? What is there to plan for?”

“Mother will want her family there and likely the Celtigars too, _she_ says it’s important that people know that our house will have a future, and that _we_ are that future.”

“No.” Visenya decided. “Whatever she thinks she’s planning she can cancel it right now. We shan’t be having anything more than our immediate family, mother father Rhaenys Orys, and some staff on the long beach. Anything more is unnecessary.”

“You don’t need to tell me that.” Aegon huffed, stabbing his fork deep into the dark wood table. “It’s mother you need to convince. I’ll warn you though, I’ve already tried.”

With that both siblings stood and left the table. As soon as they were both out of the hall they parted ways and walked in opposite directions, Aegon in the direction of the library and Visenya towards her mothers solar where she knew her mother would be at this time of day.

Once at her mothers door Visenya paused for a moment to let herself calm down slightly, it was always easier having these discussions with a clear head. After a few deep breaths, she nodded to her mothers herald and he knocked on the door.

“Who is it?” Her mothers voice called.

“Lady Visenya, my lady.” The herald replied.

“Enter.” Lady Valaena smiled at Visenya as she entered, she stood from her seat at the fire and embraced her daughter. “Are you well my child, you were not at breakfast?”

“I am well mother, I just slept in is all.” She allowed her mother to guide her to a seat opposite the one she had just been sat on.

“Then what do you wish to discuss, I was not expecting your visit?” Her mother rearranged her skirts and tried to hide the slightly disapproving look in her indigo eyes as she marked the page of the book she had been reading before Visenya’s interruption.

“Aegon tells me you wish to begin preparations for the wedding.” Visenya averted her eyes slightly, gazing into the fire instead of her mothers eyes.

“Yes, I intent for the two of you to be married before the years end, did Aegon mention this also?” Visenya nodded. “Very good, would you like to have some part in the preparations?”

“Not as such,” Visenya mumbled, “I just wandered how… big, you were planning on making it.”

“As big as I can make it, of course!” Valaena laughed, it was a merry sound, _but mother is always merry._ “Why do you ask?”

“I was hoping that it would be a more private event, in truth.” Senya admitted, and though it pained her slightly to do so, she held her mothers gaze as her smile fell and she began to frown. “No more people than are necessary, just family.”

“Family is everything,” her mother allowed, “but this is more than an “event”. Senya this is not a nameday feast or hatching celebration, this is your marriage. It will demonstrate the stability and future of our house through your brother and yourself.”

“I understand that mother,” she knew her mother had not finished talking but she spoke anyway, “but with respect this is my wedding, mine and Aegon’s not yours. I do not think we would even be able to afford making this event so public.”

“We can not afford for it to be private either, we cannot seem to be hiding from this.” Lady Valaena’s voice was stern now. “You may own a Sword and play at knights with your brother, but you are a Lady, Visenya, and I trust you know that makes your first and greatest duty to this family is to marry and continue our family’s legacy. The blood of the dragon can never die out.”

“I know my duty mother and I never said I would not marry, only that I do not wish to have fifty complete strangers watching me when it happens purely for the sake of “politics”!”

“Do not raise your voice at me! You may be a woman grown but you are still my daughter, you will show me respect.”

“I will give you respect when you me some.” Visenya stood from her seat and looked down on her mother. “The wedding will be here, on Dragonstone, yes, but the only people attending will be you, father, Rhaenys, Orys and the castle staff, those who are known to us at least.”

With that, Visenya turned on her heel and left, not waiting to see her mothers reaction and ignoring her cries of _“Senya wait!”_ And _“do not walk away from me!”_. She did not stop walking until she reached the gallery at the other side of the castle, the one that overlooked the entrance hall. The hall was empty as there were no visitors expected any time soon. A loud clanging sound rang out and several guards jumped to action, reaching for their swords, but it was only the wind howling at the door to remind them all of the storms presence.

As young children, Visenya and her siblings used to play hide and seek around the castle on stormy days, the weather only serving to male the game more fun. The four of them would take hours playing as they were given freedom over almost the whole castle, and thanks to those days spent playing, they now knew almost ever secret Dragonstone had.

This memory of her childhood reminded Visenya of one such secret she had discovered, so she walked around the balcony until she reached the opposite side to the one she had been on previously. There was a large tapestry that covered the wall before her from the ceiling to the floor; it depicted a bright, cobalt blue dragon in the midst of a thunderstorm. It perched atop a mountain with its wings outstretched, mouth wide as it screamed silently at the thrashing waves, in its eyes were reflections of the clouds and the lightning all around it.

It had always been her favourite, the other tapestries and paintings in the castle mostly showed knights or depictions of the gods or sometimes the Doom. They were all beautiful, of course, and Visenya appreciated them all, but this was only one that truly spoke to her, _beautiful and wild and stubborn, and keeping secrets so well that they would never see the light of day._ With that thought, she bent down and took the bottom left corner in hand, to her relief it had not been reattached. She checked around her and pulled the corner of the fabric to the side to reveal the hole in the wall behind it.

Visenya knee that through this hole was a tunnel stretched back for a few paces then dropped suddenly, it travelled down into the crypts beneath the castle as did many of the other secret passages. As you travelled deeper down the tunnels and caves of Dragonstone’s hidden network the stone in the walls began to change from the grey stone of the castle, to a dark black stone that looked like glass. Aegon had read a book once that said the stone was called Obsidian, but it was given the nickname “dragonglass”, Visenya preferred that name.

Though the Targaryen siblings had often explored the tunnels together, they had each agreed that they may keep some entrances and caves they found to themselves. This hole behind the tapestry had been Visenya’s entrance, and as she peered into it she could still see her name carved into the stone. She had cut it in with her knife when she was ten, she knew her siblings had done the same in their places, and in select favourite hidden places they had all left their marks upon the walls, often inscribing messages as well.

Another boom of thunder from outside reminded Visenya that she was not a child anymore, and she had more important things to do than play in hidden tunnels. She stood and let the tapestry fall back into place. That was when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. On the side of the gallery that was opposite to the entrance of the hall below, there hung a sword. She thought briefly on her mothers words, _“you may have a sword and play at knights…”_ , and true enough Visenya did have a sword, it had been gifted to her by her father on her fourteenth nameday. It was a good sword, straight and sharp, castle forged steel. But the sword she saw now was far finer.

She walked around the corner to the side of the gallery it hung on. There were two such swords belonging to her family, they were relics of their people’s former empire; Valyrian steel swords. One was owned by her father and was already promised to Aegon someday. That sword was called Blackfyre, it was a hand-and-a-half longsword, a beautiful weapon yes, but not the one Visenya was interested in.

The other sword was Dark Sister, a longsword that had surely been forged for a woman’s hand, for its slender blade and handle were far better suited to her own grip than that of a man. Visenya tested this now. She lifted from its rack upon the wall, _its clever that they should place them here, facing the door, so anyone who entered the castle must see them and be reminded of our heritage from the moment they first set foot in our home._

The sword was heavy, but it was far lighter and better balanced than her current sword. She made a few lunges with it, feeling cut the air clean in half. She heard soft footsteps behind her, but she did not turn, not yet. Instead Visenya continued to slash at the air, pretending not to notice the intruders presence until she knew he was close enough for her to strike, then she whirled round and put her sword to his neck, only stopping herself from cutting his head clean off when she saw his face.

“Careful now, Senya.” Orys chuckled. “You could hurt someone with that.”

“That’s the whole point.” She rolled her eyes and lowered the blade, fixing it back in its rack. “You shouldn’t sneak up on me.”

“I wasn’t sneaking.” Orys objected.

“Yes you were. You didn’t say you were there, that’s sneaking.”

“What ever you say.” He turned his head towards the sword on the wall. “It is a beautiful sword. One of only a small number of its kind left in the world now.”

“I’m more than aware of that, thank you Orys.” Senya replied, slightly sarcastically. “What’s your point?”

“Do you really think your father will give it _you_?”

“Why shouldn’t he?”

“Because you’re a girl.” He scoffed. “It’s not like he’d give it to Rhaenys so why should he give it to you?”

“Rhaenys has never held a sword in her life.” Visenya frowned. “He will give it to me because I’ve earned it. Girl or not.”

They both looked at the sword for a moment. Orys sighed. “If you say, Senya.”

“What does that mean?” She asked indignantly. “I train just as hard as Aegon does and I fight as well as he does too!”

“That’s true, no one is denying that,” Orys put his hands up defensively, “but you _are_ a girl, that means you have to fight twice as well as Aegon does and train twice as hard. You need to prove that your birth does not impede your ability.”

Visenya looked at her half-brother and knew he was speaking from his own experience. She turned her gaze out towards the door and nodded. “I know.”

Orys took the dismissal, bowing his head slightly as he always did, then walking past her. Visenya took one last look at the sword, _It will be mine one day, by whatever means,_ then she made her own way back to her chambers.

The storm continued to rage well past midday, but suddenly, as the light began to fade, it stopped. For the first time in three days Visenya’s bedchamber was silent as she read. She had spent the day enjoying the freedom such storms always brought, she had found a book written in high Valyrian which she soon discovered to be a sort of encyclopaedia for Old Valyrian mythology and lore. It spoke of the creatures that dwelled beneath the earth, wyrms and worse creatures that had not yet been named, giant parasites the size of a mans arm that would crawl under your skin and boil you alive. There were other strange tales of how the first Valyrians had learned to tame dragons, but Visenya suspected they were written and transcribed from centuries ago so the language was quite different to the one she knew.

Outside her window the light had finally faded entirely, and Visenya realised her fire was running low. She sighed and thought of calling for a servant to fix her fire, but she was not in a mood to have to speak to anyone, so she stood up and did it herself.

Once the flames were bright enough for her liking she returned to her bed and picked up her book once more. But this time Visenya found it did not hold as much joy for her as it had before, and no matter how hard she tried she could not distract her mind from what had been said at dinner. Her mother had announced officially that Visenya and Aegon would be wed before the years ends. It had sent Rhaenys into a bad mood when various guests and family members began to congratulate her siblings and neglect her. When someone finally noticed she was being excluded they all began to comment that they were sure her parents would find a suitable match for her in due course, and that, of course, just sent her into an even worse mood. The meal had ended with Rhaenys leaving the hall before they were even half way through and Orys being sent after her (Aegon has initially offered to go but Lord Aerion has _suggested_ that Aegon would do better to stay with his betrothed.) Visenya’s sister never returned to the hall, but their half-brother returned soon after and informed them all that Rhaenys had retired for the day.

Visenya sighed and flicked through her book looking for any drawing or illustrations that she could look at without needing to use much concentration. Strange as it would sound for a woman of her character, but Visenya truly did enjoy art. The paintings, rugs and tapestries at Dragonstone were a source of great pleasure for her, and she was not a terrible artist herself either. For above all else Visenya prided her self on her sense of duty. No matter what her duty was, she would do it. So as a younger child she had always attended her lessons on the _“womanly arts”_ and tried her best, whether it be in needlework or learning to play the harp. For the most part, she had not minded these lesson, had enjoyed them even, she simply did not find them as useful as learning to fight. Just as she did not hate dresses and women’s clothes, she would wear them happily, her only qualms with them were that they were less practical than men’s clothes.

After several moments of flicking through the pages, Visenya came across an illustration of what she presumed to be the city of Valyria during its prime. It was vast. Every building at least the same size as Dragonstone if not larger, and all with large balconies and flat roofs that had clearly been designed for dragons to land on. The architecture was similar to that of the Castle if Dragonstone but not exactly the same, the stone was different and it had been built for a warmer climate so most buildings had large empty windows allowing access to every room. It was built around a river Witt brides running across it and Visenya noticed six large hills in the background of the drawing, the great Valyrian buildings stretching all the way back towards them. They reminded her of the Dragonmont, and she was reminded of the doom, the way the fourteen hills surrounding the city had split open and spewed fire so high and so hot that it had burnt even the dragons as they tried to flee, and the city had been destroyed.

As she contemplated the picture further there came a knock at her door. 

“Enter.” She called, the door opened and the knocker entered. “Rhaenys? What are you doing here you should be abed?”

“I could not sleep.” Rhaenys said, sniffing her nose and Visenya noticed that her sister had been crying.

“What’s wrong?” She sat up straighter as Rhaenys walked closer.

“All day people have been coming and asking if I am excited for your wedding. _Your_ wedding, Sen.” The tears began to slip down Rhaenys cheeks. “Yours and Aegon’s. And yes I’m happy for you both and I’m excited, but your my family, you’re my greatest friends and the only people that truly matter to me.”

“You’re my greatest friend too.” Visenya tried to comfort her, reaching out and taking her sisters hand in her own.

“But I won’t be for much longer.” Rhaenys sobbed. “You’ll marry Aegon and then you’ll be your own family and have children and you won’t have time for me anymore. You forget about me and you’ll leave me on my own.”

“No, no no never!” Visenya embraced her little sister and held her as tightly as she could. “Rhae, you’re our sister and we love you, nothing will ever stop that.”

“But it will! I know it will! People who are married don’t have time for their little sisters anymore!”

“No, I will always have time for you, so will Aegon. Come here.” Visenya lifted her blanket so Rhaenys could lie down beside her. “Listen, we are the blood of the dragon, yes? Our blood is precious and we must preserve it. That is why Aegon and I will marry. But you know what father always says about us, we are the last of the Valyrians and we must never forget that, we are the last hope of a dynasty stretching back thousands of years. And that is why we must protect each other, because family is all we have. You and Aegon, you are all that matter to me, married or unmarried that will never change. Even if I do have children that will never stop me loving you.”

Rhaenys lay there for a moment, shaking slightly. “I know you love me, and I love you. But that won’t put me above your and Aegon’s family, it can’t.”

“ _You_ are mine and Aegon’s family.” Visenya whispered, beginning to stroke her sister’s hair gently.

“Promise?” Rhaenys sniffed.

“Promise. Now and always.”

“Now and always.”

**Author's Note:**

> So I hope you liked this :)  
> I’m not sure whether I’ll put more chapters on yet, I wanted to do a little anthology sort of thing of the moments in between the wars and major moments in the lives of the “original” Targaryen siblings. If I do more chapters they’ll be from different POVs and may feature one or two from some major event that happens to them (because let’s face it, there’s a lot of major moments).  
> I’ll wait and see how this chapter does before I make another so please let me know what you think. ;)


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